Best friends

Eugene Volokh muses on the divisions between those whose closest friends are same-sex versus opposite sex. He thinks that close cross-gender friendships have become more common with increased integration of the professions. That may be one factor, but the propensity to be close friends with members of the opposite sex is often well entrenched at a young age. My tendency toward membership in his third category dates back to at least the third grade, but I always attributed that to a greater appreciation for boys' more straightforward way of interacting (versus the cattiness of elementary school girls). After years of complex and exhausting friendships with women in junior high and high school, finding good male friends in college was like coming home again.